Latch for elevator-doors.



B. WEXLER.

LATCH FOB ELEVATOB. DOORS. APPLIGATION FILED AUGL '1, 1912.

1,089,45 1 Patented Mr. 10, 19E

BENJAMIN WEXLEE, 0F BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, assIGNoE.

A eosrona'rmnlop or NEW YORK, N. Y.,

NEW 'YORK.

LATCH FOR yELElVATOR-DOOLRS.

To all fte/om it ma/ Concern Be it known that I, BENJAMIN W'Exlam, a citizen of the United States, and residentl of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and j State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Latches for Elevator-Doors, of which the following lis a specification.

The invention relates to improvements rn latches for elevator-doors, and has particular reference to self-closing iireproof doors j leading from the several floors of a building to an elevator-shaft; and the object of the invention is to provide for each door a spring latch arranged for actuation only! when the car is at rest at that floor of the building to hold the door in open position, and means to release said latch and allow the door to close when the car leaves -the floor in either direction. In latches as ordinarily constructed, the car, as it passes the several floors, successively engages the several doorlatches, causing an unnecessary wear upon the parts and an objectionable noise from the movement thereof, particularly noticeable in buildings of considerable height in which the floors are numerous and the speed ot' the car relatively high.v And further objects of the invention include the arrangement with the latch o a recoil spring to fa` cilitate the normal closing movement of the door, and of a fusible-link connection adapted to operate with the latch `in the event of lire to close the door independently of the car.

In describing the invention in detail, reference is had to the accom panying drawings, forming al part of this specification, and wherein like characters of reference are used to designate like parts throughout the several views, and in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of an elevator-doorway, having' a two-part verticallyl slidable door provided with the improved j latch. embodied in the present invention; Fig. 2, a transverse section of the doorway, shown in relation to the door sections and latch; Fig. 3, an enlarged ground plan, with the adjacent parts shown partially in section; Fig. 4` an enlarged .side view of the latch, with the several parts positioned for holdingthe door in open position, and shown in relation with the recoiler spring and fusible-link connection; and Fig. 5 shows ther parts of the latch as positioned at the be- Specieation of Letters Patent. lApplication filed August 7, 1912.

`which is Xeda pin 17 A4ingly supported upon the Patented Mar. 1111, 1914. Serial No. 713,724.

ginning of the closing movement of the door, the recoil sprin and fusible-link connection being omittedg.r

Numerals 1 and 2 designate respectively the adjacent portions of the upper and lower sections of a two-part fire-'proof elevatordoor, to the lower section of` which is secured a carrier-bar 3, connected at its opposite ends to the fiexible cables or chainsfl,

which lead over the carrier-wheels 5, and are secured to the upper door section. The wheels are mounted upon guide-rails G, which are fixed to the wall of the elevator-shaft and provided with interior angles 7 for slidingly receiving the usual guide-blocks 8, secured to the door-sections, which latter, as thus mounted, are adapted for vertical movement from and toward each other for opening and closing a doorway 9, leading to the elevator-shaft, the upper door-section being more heavily constructed toA have an overbalancing etleet upon the lower section to lause a self-closing action ot'- the door when opened.

lVithin the elevator-shaft is movably supported a car of ordinary construction, vindi` cated by the fragmental portions ot' an upright 10 and a platform 11, to the latter of which is secured a hanger 12, carrying a cam 13.

Upon one of the guide-rails latch-frame 14, having a fixed hinge-pin 15, for pivotally supporting, intermediate its ends, a latch-lever 1G, on the upper end of for hingedly supporting a latch-head 1S. The lower edge of this head is beveled and engages a correspondingly beveled shoulder 19 formed on the latch-lever which serves as a stop to limit the relative movement of the head in one direction about the pin 17, the head being normally retained against the stop bythe action of the spring 20, the upper end of which engages the rear 'ard edge ot the head, while its opposite or lower end is coiled about and fixed to the pin 21, secured to the latch-lever. The latch-head, as thus yieldlever, jointly swings therewith about the pin 15, and is normally held in a proj ccted position for engagement with the door, as shown in Fig. 4t, by the action ot' the spring 22, the upper end of which engages the lower edge of the latchlever, while its opposite end is coiled about and fixed to the pin 23, secured to lthe latch- TO THE PEELLE COMPANY,

(i is fixed a ingly mounted the recoiler-stem 28, provided' 'p the lower section i action of the self-closing V ment of the latch-lever frame 14. The lower end of the latch-lever is also provided with a slot or perforation, through which extends the shank 24 ofthe shoe 25, the latter being adjustably fixed in suitable position byV the set-screw 26, provided in the lever. The shoe is adapted to engage the cam 13 fixed upon the car when the latter is at rest, but is normally held in disengagement therefrom by the spring 22, to permit the free movement of the vcar while the doors are closed. Also secured to the latch-frame 14, are a pair of guide-blocks 27, having perforations in which is slidat its upper end with a contact head 29, and at a point intermediate the guide-blocks with an adjustable thrust collar 30, which engages the upper end of a compression spring 31, arranged to encircle the stem28 and bear upon the lower guide-block.

The actuation of the recoiler is eected by the manual operation of opening the door, wherein the bottom edge of the carrier-bar 3 or the lower door section in its lowermost position engages the contact-head 29 to lower the same and compress'the recoil spring 31,

which is retained thus compressed by the engagement Vof the latch-head 18 with the upper edge of the carrier-bar 3, the -downward movement of this bar being positively limited by its engagement with the ledge 32, formed on the latch-frame 14. Upon the release of the latch-head 18, the spring 31 serves to upwardly urge the carrier-bar and its connected lower door section, giving the same an impulse to facilitatethe closing of the door by overcoming its inertia of rest.

As shown in Figs. 2 and 4, the latch-head 18 is in its' outward or projected position, the elevator-car being at rest at that loor of the l building, and the door therefor in open osition. In the operation of, opening the Yoor,

ressed, the carrier-bar 3 thereon engaging thel latch-head 1 8 and-causing the same to swing inward about its pivotal support 17 against the action of the yieldin which latter upon the continue movement of the door downwardlyT urges the .head into engagement with the upper edge of the carrier-bar to hold the door in open position while the car is at-rest, the cam 13 on the latter engaging the shoe 25 to prevent moveduring the opening movement of the door and while the latter is held in open position. lVhen the car leaves the floor in either direction, the cam thereon is disengaged from the shoe, and the upward door in connection with the recoil-spring 31 is suiiicient to cause an inward movement of the upper end of the latch-lever 16 about its pivotal support 15 in opposition to the yielding action of the spring 22, ing surface of the connected latch-head 18 34, is slidingly v held in tension thereof is manually despring 20,'

door and normally as indicated in Fig. 5; the engagbeing suitably shaped with respect to the line of action of the e'ect this inward movement. Upon the disengagement of the carrier-bar from the latch-head, the latch-lever is free to swing backward into normal position with its shoe 25 out of the car line of movement.

In the event of the door being manually openedwhen the car is not in position, it will be obvious that the latch as thus 'constructed will not hold the same in open position, but will allow the door to automatically close and guard against accident. Also to rovide in the event of an adjacent re or the automatic closing of the door when latched in open position while the car is at rest, a bar 33, having a cam-shaped portion 27, xed upon the latch-frame 14. At its lower end the bar 33 is connected to one end of a tension spring V35,the opposite end of the latter being thereby to exert a pulling stress upon the bar opposition to the wire 36, connected to the upper end thereof. From its connection at vthe upper end of the bar the wire is led upwardly to an adjacent point within the building'where its opposite end is connected to an ordinary fusible-link 37 which normally acts in opposition to the spring 35 to hold the bar in its upper or clear position with respect to xed to the latch-frame and the latch-head.

contacting carrier-bar 3 to mounted in the guide-blocks 18. In the event of an adjacent destructive lire the usible link 37 is parted and the resistance ofthe wire 36 is overcome, permitting the tension of the spring 35 to effect a downward movement of the bar, which movement .serves to engage the camv portion' 34 thereof with the pin 38,

n fixed to the latchhead 18, causing the latter to be retracted for the release of the carrier-bar, and permitting the vdoor to automatically close independently of the car.

The several parts comprising the latch being thus loperatively associated upon the latch-frame 14, it will be obvious that the same may readily be adjusted and securedto the guide-rail or other point'adjacent the elevator-car, and, in situations requiring the use of relatively wide doors, latches operating upon both ends of the carrier-bar may be employed.

With the use of the above-described latch it will be clear thatupon the opening of the elevator-door the same will remain open only when the car is suitably alined therewith under normal conditions of temperature.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1; The combination with a self-closing elevator-door, of.` an elevator-car, a latchlever yieldingly supported adjacent said held from engagement with said car, a latch-head yieldingly supported on and normally projecting from y releasing said ported .lever and adapted said latch-lever, means on the door adapted t0 engage the latch-head and actuate the latch-lever, and means on the car for arresting the movement of the latch-lever when the car is at that lloor of the building to hold the door in open vposition and for lever when the car leaves the floor in either direction.

2. The combination with a self-closing elevator-door having a carrier-bar securedthereto, of an elevator-car, a latch-lever said door and normally held from engagement with said car, a latch-head yieldingly supported on 15 normally projecting from' said latchto be engaged by the carrier-bar, a spring-recoiler adjacent said latch-head and adapted to be engaged by and floor of the buildin 3. The combination with a self-closing elevator-door7 of an elevator-car, a latchlever yieldingly supported adjacent said door and normally held from engagement with said-car, a latch-head yieldingly supto engage the latch-'head and actuate the latch-lever, means onpthe car for arresting the movement of the latch lever when the car isla-t rest at thatiloor of the building, and latch-releasing means including a fusible-link connection adapted to actuate said latch-head independently of the latch-lever.

4. The combination with a self-closing elevator-door having acarrier-bar secured thereto, of an elevator-car, a latch-lever yieldingly supported adjacent said door and normally held fromengagement with said car, a latch-head yieldingly supported on and normally projecting from said latchapted to be engaged by the cara spring-recoiler adjacent said latch-lever when the car is at restat that lloor of the building, and latch-releasing means including a fusible-link connection and adapted to be engaged by' adapted to actuate said latch-head independently of the latch-lever.

5. The combination with a self-closing elevator-door, of an elevator-car, a latch-- frame supported adjacent said door, a latchlever yieldingly supported on said frame, a latch-head yieldingly supported on said latch-lever and movable therewith, a springrecoiler supported on said frame, means on the door adapted to engage said latch-head and spring-recoiler, and means on the car adapted to arrest the movement of the latchlever.

A6. The combination with a self-closing 6.5 door, of an elevator-car, a-latch-frame supported adjacent said door, a latch-lever yieldingly supported on said frame, a latchhead yieldingly supported on said latchlever and movable therewith, means on the door adapted to engage said latch-head, means The combination with a self-closing door, of an elevator-car, a latch-frame supported adjacent said door, a latch-lever yieldingly supported on said frame, a latchhead yieldingl'y supported upon .said latchlever and movable therewith, a spring-recoiler supported upon said frame, means on the door adapted to engage said latch-head and spring-recoiler, means on the car adapted to arrest the movement ofthe latch-lever, latch-releasing means yielding mounted upon said latch-frame and adapted to retract said latch-head, and a fusible-link connection normally holding said latch-releasing means from engagement with the latch-head. l Y I Signed at New York in the county of New 95 Yorkand State of New York this 25th day of July, A. D. 1912.

.BENJAMIN WEXLER.

Witnesses:

HUGH B. PITCHER, WM. P. BRADY. 

